The social and political protest movement that has been shaking up Iraq since 1 October is hardening and gaining momentum. While the crackdown on demonstrations has so far resulted, according to an official report, in the deaths of 239 people, most of them mowed by live ammunition, mobilization continues in Baghdad and in the south of the country. Five people were killed on Monday (October 28th) in Baghdad, the Government Commission on Human Rights said.

In the face of street pressure, the Iraqi army has declared a night curfew in the capital, where Baghdad's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of an unprecedented protest, is now occupied. and night and covered with tents.

"The chaotic situation is likely to worsen as protesters face extreme violence from the government, even if it is not the first time that protest movements are being repressed so harshly in this country" warns Zaid al-Ali, a former UN adviser in Iraq and author of the essay "The Struggle for the Future of Iraq" (Yale University Press), interviewed by France 24.

In the morning, despite warnings from the authorities, thousands of students and schoolchildren invaded the streets of Iraq, while the teachers' union announced "four days of general strike", starting Monday. In several southern provinces, where protesters attacked institutions and headquarters of political parties and armed groups, government officials, unions, students and schoolchildren demonstrated and began sit-ins.

Even the multi-ethnic province of Diyala, bordering Iran, eventually rallied to this protest, apolitical and leaderless movement. AFP reports that two members of the Provincial Council have resigned and pickets have blocked administrations and universities.

The series of social measures recently announced by the Prime Minister, Adel Abdel Mahdi, arrived just a year ago in power, have not satisfied the protesters. Remobilized since the resumption on Thursday of the protest movement after an interruption of 18 days, the time of the most important Shia pilgrimage, they even promised an escalation "until the fall of the regime".

"We want to overthrow this government"

"We have lost our country, we do not want land, electricity or water, we want to be free and we want to overthrow this government", summarizes one of the demonstrators interviewed in Baghdad by the correspondents of France 24 in Iraq.

"No one in Iraq believes in the promises of reforms issued by the government, there have been similar announcements in the past but no measure has been applied, says Zaid al-Ali. this movement lasts for several days or even weeks because only an upheaval or a major decision can calm the street, but nothing indicates that this is about to happen, because the political class, which does not perceive for the moment of existential threat against the system it has put in place, refuses to reform ".

From the first day of this movement, born spontaneously after calls to protest on social networks, the protesters demanded jobs and functional public services while expressing their anger against the ruling class accused of being corrupt.

According to Transparency International, Iraq ranks twelfth in the world's most corrupt countries. According to official figures, nearly 410 billion dollars (372 billion euros) of public funds have vanished in 16 years, while one in five Iraqis lives below the poverty line and one in four is at unemployment.

A suspended prime minister?

Confronted with the growing discontent of the population, the Parliament is torn apart as the Prime Minister's fragile parliamentary majority seems more than ever deadlocked. About 50 deputies loyal to the Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, who supported the government until the beginning of the crisis, began Saturday a sit-in in solidarity with the protesters, and announced joining the opposition.

"The Iraqi people are being killed in cold blood, this government must resign because it failed to meet its simplest demands and failed to implement the program he had announced" , explains to France 24 the deputy Burhan al-Maamoudi, allied with the block of Moqtada Sadr. It was unclear if the ministers nominated by Moqtada Sadr, but who were not part of his movement, would leave the government.

The Shiite leader, who endorsed protesters' claims against the corrupt, renewed his call for the resignation of the government and the holding of early elections "under UN supervision". "He has no prospect of a resolution that could break the current momentum in Iraq, the protesters have a goal, but they have no strategy to bring about a change in power," said Zaid al-Ali. 'it is just a question of replacing the Prime Minister with another person from the same ruling class, nothing will change'.